My family, to my utter astonishment, presented me with a brand new desktop iMac for my birthday today, running Leopard with tons of memory and ram, etc etc.
I am a complete luddite, currently using a cast-off G3 that looks like a lamp, running Tiger.
Keith, I know I kept my Scriv key somewhere and will dig it up, so downloading Scriv onto the new machine (working name Olivia) won’t be a problem. But how do I transfer my files over so they aren’t corrupted or wiped in the process.
I do have an external drive, a nice little MyBook from Western Digital. But very little computer savvy, so please use one-syllable words and tell me what to do.
For Scriv only. The rest is secondary and I will eventually figure it out myself. Though I have learned that you can’t use the nifty little importing wizard to bring things from Tiger to Leopard apparently. Still, Scriv is my main concern.
Plug the drive into non-Olivia. Copy files you want to move to drive. Eject drive (shutdown non-Olivia). Plug drive into Olivia. Copy files from drive onto Olivia.
That is the simple explanation. If you want a little more hand holding let me know. We can do a screen share for real time if you want. I won’t even send you a bill.
Enjoy the new mac. Don’t toss the G3, you will still want to use it. I promise you that.
Oh, Jaysen, I was hoping you’d be there tonight! I am so psyched. I’m just setting up Olivia now.
Your instructions seem so easy and logical. I actually have all my Scriv projects backed up as Zip files on my MYBook external, but I should copy my Scriv files from non-Olivia over directly, right, in their little folder entitled Scrivener Stuff, and copy that onto Olivia? And then when I open Scrivener in Olivia, it will know where to look?
I am a little bit (okay, I confess a LOT) giddy with excitement.
I was going to add, ZIP all the Scriv files before copying them.
Yes, you may go from Griselda (non-Olivia) to Oliva, if G is a recent clone of O’s files.
Good idea to do the same with all other files in your Documents folder.
You may ZIP entire folders, not just individual files.
I generally don’t inspire that feeling in others. You may want to hold off on doing this tonight as I fear you may be incapacitated due to your excitement.
That was a joke.
Here is the big thing you want to remember. DONT REMOVE FILES FROM G (as druid calls her) UNTIL YOU ARE SURE YOU HAVE THEM MOVED PROPERLY. Then no matter what happens you will have them to go back to.
Since you clearly have a backup strategy that you have been following, try this:
Backup like you always do on G.
Unmount (technical term for eject) the MyBook.
Restore your files on Olivia. Just use the same method that you would for G.
This will give you some practice with restoring if you haven’t had to do it.
As to the rest of your files… you can use them with the same method I describe earlier. Druid’s suggestion of zipping is not bad, but I wouldn’t do it myself. I drag packages all day with no impact. It won’t hurt anything so feel free to do it if you want.
If you want a little phone support PM/email me. It is too hot to sleep anyway.
Jaysen right now I am trying to get my 2 email accounts set up. My new iMac does NOT like Verizon and keeps spinning its wheels re. the outgoing mail account–I think it may have something to do with unchecking the SSL box, whatever that is, but be that as it may, I have managed to connect to my gmail account and am watching all that drivel come in. Jeesh. Will delete much of it and then try the verizon again.
Then there’s my documents, my iphotos, my itunes and I think I will do the Scriv stuff LAST, when I’ve made mistakes on everything else.
And never fear, the little lamp will NEVER be wiped. It’s archeological.
I don’t use Verizon, but Charter when In WI, and it does not accept SSL.
When you set up Mail: Preferences, go to Accounts.
In the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) click on the drop down,
Choose Edit Server List…
On the second tab, Advanced
Leave the Use Secure Sockets box unchecked.
You might be going about this the hard way. You can extract the mail settings but it escapes me right now. I am sure that if you look at the account setting in G it will make sense.
I’ll be here. Quickest way to reach me is PM as that will toss me an email (which I will see on my phone). If you get in a bind don’t hesitate to contact me.
Yes, Mac OS X Leopard has always had serious bugs in upgrading Mail from Tiger to Leopard, particularly when you try to manually upgrade Mail (e.g. by manually moving the Mail folder and Mail preferences from a Tiger machine to a Leopard machine). Totally annoying beyond belief.
Haven’t tried the hints outlined in this article, but here are the step-by-step instructions that we’ve been successfully using for how to fix the problem:
Start by carrying over the com.apple.mail.plist file in ~/Library/Preferences on the old machine into the same location on the new machine.
Next, carry over the ~/Library/Mail folder from the old machine BUT PUT IT ON THE DESKTOP OF THE NEW MACHINE.
Launch the Mail application.
Mail will now ask you if you want import your messages. DO NOT HIT CONTINUE YET!!
Go into ~/Library and you will notice that there is a NEW Mail folder that was created. Don’t try to delete this folder yet because it is in use by mail so just rename this folder Mail2.
Now, drag your OLD mail folder located on your desktop to your ~/Library folder.
Go back to the Mail application and click continue. Your messages and settings should import fine now.
Verify that your messages and settings imported correctly and quit Mail.
Navigate back to ~/Library and delete the Mail2 folder.
Launch the Mail application again and make sure everything functions correctly.
Final suggestion to beleaguered Molly’s Mom:
This is precisely why the Genius Bar at Apple Stores exists.
Go online, make an appointment, show up with both machines.
They will do the work for you, properly and efficiently.
And if it’s a new computer, they may not charge you at all.
Or at least give a big discount.
Oh, Druid, ye of little faith. I am in no way beleaguered; I’m actually having a blast. With enough spare time and a large bottle of Cabernet, all things are possible. My education in matters cybernetic has progressed in leaps and bounds these past 24 hours (and I have to humbly bow before Jaysen’s great patience ). I’ve got all my Scriv folders, plus the app, WITH preferences! transferred over nicely with one exception that doesn’t really matter, and just a short while ago I figured out how to move my Apple Mailboxes over intact. Everything connects and works like a house afire. As you can probably tell, I’m still flying high on all this.
The good news, you’ll be pleased to hear, is that my sister in Canada just purchased her own new macbook PLUS a year’s worth of one-on-one tutorials at the local Genius bar, and she is filling me in on how to handle such esoteric delights as Spaces, how to reconcile Pages and Word, yadda yadda.
I may give up writing completely and become a geek. Now I know what happened to Keith.
(Oh, and after AGES of searching to find the perfect ergonomic keyboard, finally settling on a Maxim and learning to love it, I am completely besotted with the little thing that came with my iMac–half the size, almost a mini-keyboard and just so adorable. Go figure)
Yea, Apple will move all your old files from your old to your new computer for free. They even converted some old Word Perfect files for me so I could open them. Congratulations on your new computer!!! I know just how you feel. I got mine several months ago and am STILL SO EXCITED I CAN’T SLEEP! Then I got Scrivener and now I’M TOTALLY NUTS!!!
For anyone reading who is worried about getting mail from Tiger to Leopard.
Yesterday I got a new Macbook Pro. I have been using a 12" Powerbook with Tiger (10.4.11). I had read here and elsewhere about problems migrating mail, but decided to see what Migration Assistant would do anyway, and if necessary fix it later.
As far as I can see, the migration has worked perfectly, bringing over five different mail accounts, a mix of POP and IMAP, active and inactive, thousands of local and online archived emails going back several years, all account preferences, all mail rules and even signatures. I seem to be one of the lucky ones.
So if you are in the same situation, I think it’s worth giving Migration Assistant a try.
Nicka, that’s great, lucky you. In retrospect, I probably would have done well to go out and buy a firewire thingie to use Migration Assistant. But having to pick through things bit by bit has forced me to clean up my act and learn a great deal I would not otherwise have been required to. So far I am plugging away and enjoying pretty much every minute of it.
My most thrilling moment of the past several days came after I had successfully re-downloaded Scriv and transferred my projects over. With my main project open, I copied over the preferences file for screen colors, etc, and hit whatever button it was that restored my original preferences (you must understand that those colors were come by after much gruellng experimentation over several days when I was avoiding rewriting chapter one for the umpteenth time). FLASH!–all my documents immediately exploded in the familiar rainbows. I was near overcome with joy and self-congratulations.
